A CIO professional once e-mailed a Job Description to me with a note, ‘Hannah, can you make sense of this Job Description because I have no idea what this is?’…
I read through the JD, and it didn’t make a whole lot of sense. It could have been three different roles combined into one:
– Product engineering and market readiness
– Optimisation of business wide IT systems
– Organisational culture transformation; changing mindsets and ways of working from Waterfall to SAFe
Because this person saw the words ‘customer experience’ in the JD – they thought I would be able to help. They were right.
Before considering any candidates, I spent time working closely with the stakeholder to understand the organisation’s strategic objectives, the challenges the business was trying to solve and, ultimately, what success would look like.
Only then did we define the role itself.
Once we had that clarity, I went to market.
After a thorough search process, extensive market mapping and many conversations with exceptional leaders, one exceptional person emerged from the shortlist.
What made this individual remarkable was not simply their expertise across technology, transformation and product development, but their ability to combine all three disciplines with exceptional emotional intelligence, inspiring others to embrace the journey alongside them.
To quote the hiring manager:
“They are one of the most intelligent people you could ever meet.”
Many years later, that individual remains a good friend. They currently divide their time between Germany and Kenya and, only recently, I was delighted to receive a gift of Kenyan coffee beans from them.
Stories such as this remind me that executive search is not about matching a person to a Job Description. The role itself needs scrutinising and crystalising.
It’s about understanding the problem before defining the role. Only when we know what we are looking for, can the perfect candidate be found.
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